A Spook Filled Halloween

A Special Treat for Halloween

Halloween, Halloween,
oh, the ghosts and gobblins I’ve seen;
howling and screaming in the night,
they give me quite a fright!
With eyes glowing in the dark,
their cries piercing and stark.

On this windy autumn night
my imagination takes flight…
Is that a sound of an owl that I hear
or a gobblin which is near?

Is that a haunted house
up the way
with a real ghost looking from
a window… I say!
Or is it a child dressed in white
preparing to go out on this night?

Spooks abound everywhere,
so, take care, take…care,
with their glowing eyes
and shrill cries…
Just beware!

Halloween, Halloween-
a night in costume
of frightening fun,
with identity in disguise…
full of shrieks and surprise!

A masquerade,
of costumes on parade,
with trick or treat,
a fun-filled escapade!

~ Lora Hollings

“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.” ~ Robert Brault

Haunting Treats for Halloween

Better gobble these cookies down quick. They’ve been known to disappear!

Gingerbread Ghosts

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/3 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

In a large bowl, blend together the sugar and butter. Add the molasses. Fold in the sifted flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough until it is 1/8-inch thick. Cut out the cookie with a ghost-shaped cookie cutter and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove form the oven and let cool thoroughly on a wire rack before decorating with Frosting.

Frosting:
1 (16 ounce) box confectioners’ sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 to 4 tablespoons of soymilk
1 (8 ounce) package miniature chocolate chips

To half of the sugar add the vanilla extract, salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Mix well. Add the remaining sugar and mix again. Add as much of the remaining milk as you need to reach the desired consistency for spreading. Spread the Frosting on each cookie until it is totally white and looks like a ghost. For eyes, use two chocolate chips on each of the cookies.

Makes 2 dozen.


Healthy Kid Snacks For Halloween

Fruit Spiders Recipe

Creepy and crawly but deliciously cute, these healthy Halloween fruit spiders are so much fun, your kids will be begging for more. For complete instructions on making these Halloween critters go to http://eatingrichly.com/10/healthy-kid-snack-for-halloween-fruit-spiders-recipe/

A couple tips for making these successfully:

  1. Make sure to use dark black grapes rather than the purple grapes. Grapes that are a little more oval than round are easier to get all eight legs into.
  2. Serve your spiders within an hour of making them, any longer and the spaghetti will start to get soggy.

Fruity Frog


Ingredients

Green apple (such as a Granny Smith)
Tofutti
Chocolate chips
Green grapes

Instructions

  1. Cut the apple into quarters and remove the core. Cut a thin wedge from one quarter for a mouth. For the eyes, shape tofutti into two half-inch balls, and set them in place. Insert a chocolate chip, point-side in, into each tofutti ball.
  2. Use the grapes, cut in half, for the legs and feet. Slice four halves to create toes. Arrange the pieces as shown and serve on a paper lily pad.

Parents should cut and prepare the apple quarters and grape pieces used for frog’s body, hands, and feet. Children will have fun shaping the eyes, setting them in place, and arranging the pieces to make the frog. Children will also have lots of enjoyment drawing the lily pads on which the frogs are served on. You can also get creative here by having them make white, pink, or yellow flowers out of tissue paper to use as an additional decoration on these lily pads especially if they are serving them for a Halloween party.

A Halloween Craft for Family fun

pom pom pumpkin patch

These pom pom pumpkins are fun and easy to make, very festive, and make wonderful decorations for Fall and Halloween. They can also be used for place cards at Halloween parties.

For easy to follow step by step instructions go to this site.

Make An Adorable Paper Owl Tree

Whooo’s the cutest Halloween decoration around? These winged creatures! More sweet than scary, they make a great tabletop centerpiece when perched on a branch.

For making these fun and adorable owls, go to http://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/give-a-hoot-owl-craft/

Give a Hoot Owl Craft

Halloween Jumble (PDF download)

Have fun unscrambling the words in the Halloween Jumble! Most of these words can be found on this page. See below to download the printable PDF.

Whoever Shall I Be On Halloween? – A Poem

Whoever Shall I Be On Halloween?

Maybe I could go as Cleopatra,
the Queen of the Nile.
With garb so alluring,
I could certainly beguile.

Or I could try another era-
in Elizabethan dress,
I could be Queen Bess.

How about the glamorous Jean Harlow?
A blonde wig I would need to borrow.
But with that hourglass figure,
it might be simpler to go as Trigger.

From the pages of “Gone With the Wind,”
I could dress as Scarlett O’Hara.
As this fetching Southern Belle,
I certainly could cast quite a spell!

Maybe I could go as a 1920’s flapper
and do the Charleston with flair-
in a dress with fringe
and a headband around my hair.
But with my knee being a little arthritic,
do I dare?

How about a ballet dancer-
or one of Santa’s reindeer,
named Prancer?

Perhaps I could dress down in a bikini
but with too great an expanse in the rear,
it could be quite a disaster-
I fear!

How about a fortune teller
with a crystal ball?
I could suddenly become clairvoyant
and read the future for all.

Or why not the famous
“Minnie the Moocher”
from the catchy Cab Calloway tune . . .
with all of those “Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi’s
and Whoa-a-a-a-ah’s,”
I just may end up
the star of the show!

~ Lora Hollings

Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher

Minnie the Moocher is the unforgettable, larger-than-life heroine of Minnie the Moocher, brought to life by the electrifying voice and swagger of Cab Calloway. She’s a bold, streetwise woman of glamour and trouble—living fast, loving danger, and chasing luxury in a world that’s both dazzling and dark. Wrapped in rhythm, rebellion, and jazz-age bravado, Minnie becomes more than a character—she’s a symbol of freedom, temptation, and the seductive thrill of living outside the rules. Her story, told through Calloway’s iconic call-and-response “Hi-de-hi” scat, turns music into theater and legend, making Minnie a timeless figure of American jazz folklore.

Flapper Girls 1920’s

Insight from this poem

This poem is a playful, imaginative journey through identity, memory, and transformation, using the lens of Halloween costumes to explore the many selves a person carries within—much like the spirit celebrated in A Special Treat for Halloween, where imagination and nostalgia intertwine through seasonal reflection. Each character choice—Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Jean Harlow, Scarlett O’Hara, the flapper, Minnie the Moocher, Prancer, and the fortune teller—represents a different era, personality, and kind of power: beauty, authority, glamour, rebellion, fantasy, humor, and mystery. Beneath the lighthearted tone lies a deeper reflection on aging, self-awareness, and acceptance, as the speaker gently acknowledges physical limits while refusing to abandon creativity or joy. Humor becomes a form of grace, turning vulnerability into charm. The poem celebrates imagination as a timeless refuge, showing that transformation doesn’t require perfection—only playfulness and courage. In the end, Halloween becomes more than a costume choice; it becomes a symbol of freedom, reinvention, and the enduring desire to explore who we are and who we might still become.

More poems